Scoring in the dying stages of the match to avoid defeat most times results in a feeling of a late victory and the showing of country's National Under 20 footballers is testimony to this.
Midfielder Marcus Joseph capped off another "never say die" performance by T&T when he converted a 90th minute penalty to help the junior “Soca Warriors” to a 1-1 draw with Ecuador in their third match of the Bolivar Cup Invitational tournament in Puerto Ordaz on Sunday night.
Ecuador grabbed a 65th minute result and seemed to be holding on for a victory before T&T were rewarded the late penalty and the Joe Public player stepped up to put the ball past the goalkeeper for the tying item after forward Johan Peltier was brought down in the box.
“It’s one of the goals I will remember for the rest of my life. We were this close to losing but the goal kept us alive and I’m happy that we came out with the draw,” Joseph told TTFF Media.
T&T also got a late equalizer in a 2-2 draw with Cameroon on Friday and now have two points from three matches. They will face hosts Venezuela on Tuesday from 8:30pm at the Cachamay Stadium.
“Again I am satisfied with the way we fought back to finish the match. This was a tough match for the players but we didn’t give up and we didn’t concede any easy goals to let the game go beyond us. This is one of the qualities I am seeing from the team and it’s pleasing.
Even if we are under pressure at any time in the match, we are never allowing the other side to go too far ahead and we are fighting back. Of course we have to work harder to win the matches but we are showing improvement in every match and I am happy about that,” Vranes told TTFF Media.
He made five changes in the second half is also using the tourney to expose as many players possible to international football as the team continues its build up towards the qualification campaign for the 2011 FIFA Under 20 World Cup in Colombia.
“We are trying different players and them the opportunity to be part of the matches in this tournament. Results are important I know but we also want to develop the players and give them the opportunity to gain the experience against the teams that are here.
"The next match will be difficult because Venezuela are the hosts and they have had some very good results so far in the tournament so I expect they will try to make life very hard for us but the players are not being pushed over easily so I expect we will also approach them confident of doing well and try to also make it a difficult game for them.”
T&T line-up: - John Thomas, Akil Clarke, Reshard Wint (Jerron Quashie 82nd), Dwight Ceballo, Dinell Lopez (Kevin Raymond 70th), Ross Russell Jr. (Jerron Morris 60th), Donelly Gopicharan (Vernell Ramirez 46th), Sheldon Bateau, Joshua Bachan (Kenaz Williams 60th), Marcus Joseph, Johan Peltier.